Gloves, Toaster and Toilets
by Sylvia Snape
Summary: What happed when Arthur Weasley returned to the Ministry of Magic after Harry's disciplinary hearing? Includes a pair of impatient gloves and an unimportant toaster. Background through OotP, COMPLETE.
1. Gloves, Toaster and Toilets

**Spoilers:** OotP

**Disclaimer:** The characters and the Harry Potter enterprise belongs to JK Rowling and all of her affiliates. No trademark infringement is intended.

**Author's Notes:** This is a chapter story and I hope you enjoy it!

* * *

Arthur Weasley apparated back to the Ministry of Magic, feeling slightly more cheerful than he been in the morning. He walked across the hall of the Atrium, towards the lift. He pushed the up button and waited until the lift clattered into view. He got into to the lift, as well as a few Interdepartmental memos. Most of the people in the lift greeted him and asked about Harry Potter's disciplinary hearing. He assured them that Harry had been cleared of all charges.

As the lift arrived on the second floor, Arthur got out and headed down the hall and entered his office, bumping into Kingsley along the way. When he entered, he saw that Perkins was working on the report for the regurgitating public toilet in Bethnal Green.

"So, Arthur, what happened in Potter's hearing?" said old wizard, in a way of greeting.

"He was cleared of all charges as far as I know. What's going on with the regurgitating toilets?"

"It was Willy Widdershins, he was found by a fourth toilet covered in – well – it seems that he was unsuccessful in trying to make a fourth regurgitating toilet. He was found by an Auror about an hour after this. Right now, I'm writing up a report on what happened and the charges to the Department of Magical Law Enforcement, so you've got that case off your hands. You may as well start on something else as I have this under control and don't need any help with it."

"I might as well, thanks for the information."

Arthur headed toward his desk and as he sat his gaze passed briefly by the picture of his family. He tried not to think about his third son and turned his attention to the in-tray. He looked over the hiccupping toaster, deciding it was a small enough problem to leave until later. He looked at the brown, leather gloves. When he had last seen them they had been twiddling their thumbs, now, however, they were standing on index and middle fingers on the edge of the in-tray, waiting for attention and tapping their middle fingers, impatiently. Arthur knew that he would have to handle the impatient gloves first.

Arthur pulled out a piece of parchment and started a report.

**Misuse of Muggle Artifacts Office**

**Arthur Weasley**

Artifact: pair of brown, leather gloves

Defect:

Solution:

Responsible Party:

Summary:

The gloves knew that they were going to be taken care of so, they stepped down and flopped onto a nearby piece of blank parchment. As Arthur pulled out his wand to find out what spell was on the gloves, the right glove grabbed a nearby quill. Arthur stopped to give the gloves a chance to reveal more about themselves. The gloves then, using a combined effort, dipped the quill in ink and started writing.

_We were given life to by an old Asian man – _

"They can write?" Arthur said incredulously

_Well, obviously, we can – well, only me, the right glove, because the guy is right handed – and we hear and understand you as well. So, back to business, what do you want to know? _

"Well, for starters who gave you life and what charm did they use?"

_An old Asian man named Jacob Miller used a motion to the motionless spell directed at us, as gloves. The incantation was_ _Motus Manicae_

"What is the counter charm?"

_The counter charm is Durare if you direct it at us at random. If you direct it to us as gloves it's Durare Manicae. Just don't do the counter charm so quickly, we enjoy having the power of motion._

The parchment on which Arthur was keeping track of this violation now read:

Artifact: pair of brown leather gloves

Defect: have power of motion

Solution: _Durare_

Responsible Party: Jacob Miller

"Now, where can I find this Jacob Miller?" asked Arthur, as he needed more information on this pair of gloves.

_Err – well – you can't find him – you see – he's dead. He charmed us as a sort of last act. He died of natural causes on August 5, and we've been in the possession of a couple of Muggles, who bought us at thrift stores. We were careful to not show that we were magic but, we let a few things slip and were obviously caught._

"Well, I like you so, I'm going to take you home with me and call the case closed. I'm going to use the parchment you wrote on as the summary so, hop off it and wait by the in-tray." Arthur hesitated after saying this. "You know, write another note saying that you don't want me to do the counter charm, just for show, 'course." he added. They obliged by adding a short note.

The gloves hopped off the parchment and settled between the in-tray and the picture of the Weasley family. Arthur turned his attention to the hiccupping toaster. He knew the counter charm for this, as it was a fairly common problem. He muttered "Omittere Singultus" and the toaster stopped hiccupping fairly quickly. He then wrote up a report on the hiccupping toaster and marked it closed. He placed the toaster on the far corner of his desk to be sent to a Muggle thrift store. He put both the reports on a brass spike, adding a note the one about the gloves. The note explained that the gloves were now in his possession.

He sat back in his chair, knowing he had no work left for the day. He dozed off for a few hours. When he woke up, he had a quarter of an hour to get to his shift, as he was covering for Tonks. He put the gloves in the pocket of his Bomber jacket, as well as parchment, a quill and ink. He put on the jacket and after a quick look around the office he decided he was ready to leave. He left his office thinking about the Order and wondering whether Kingsley would come to dinner.

* * *

**Author's Notes:** How did you like it? Could you read my other stories as well? It would be appreciated. I'll take any reviews I can get. My policy on reviewing: it's better to get a flame than nothing at all. You still don't want to? If you still don't want to review, then I encourage you to write a story. Then you'll understand how much reviews mean to writers and maybe you'll start reviewing other people's stories. Review!


	2. Gloves with a Mind of Their Own

**Spoilers:** OotP 

**Disclaimer:** The characters and the Harry Potter enterprise belongs to JK Rowling and all of her affiliates. No trademark infringement is intended.

**Author's Notes:** Thanks to _all_ of my _many_ reviewers. (That was sarcasm.) This is for **StarryTwilight**, my only reviewer. There will be no more Weasley work stories, although the idea is good; this will be following Arthur. This is a bit of an inbetween chapter, no real action or length here... Enjoy!

* * *

Arthur walked down the hall and to the elevator. He waited until the grilles slid open and walked into the lift. It was crowded as now many people were ending their shifts. As he reached the 9th level he got off and walked down the corridor to the door that he had to guard today. 

He put on Moody's spare invisibility cloak and settled down in a comfortable position as his shift would end at midnight. He placed a piece of blank parchment on the floor, using the ink bottle as a paperweight. He took out the gloves and placed them on the parchment. The gloves knew what this meant and, they stood on their index and middle fingers waiting for a subject of "conversation" to come up.

Arthur decided to start the conversation. He also decided to find out just how much the gloves knew.

"How much do you know of what is going on?" Arthur asked the mysterious gloves.

_Nearly nothing – it's not as if anyone is going to sit there and tell a pair of gloves what's going on in the world._ The gloves wrote this, as before, working together to use a quill.

"Okay, that's what I thought. Well, there's an evil guy named Voldermort but, nobody says his name, they just say 'You-Know-Who' or 'He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named.' He is bent on ridding the magical world of all, muggle-borns and making sure that the pureblood wizarding families only marry other pure-bloods keeping family lines noble. There are some people who are against him and his ideals but, Voldermort is very powerful and hard to defeat. A boy named Harry Potter is the only hope against him because he was able to deflect a killing curse and slow Voldermort down for thirteen years. Harry was able to defeat followers and servants of Voldermort several times during his school years. He also watched Voldermort rise again last year. Although he has risen again, most of the wizarding world does not yet believe this." The gloves have been paying attention to Arthur's account of what was going on and seemed non-pulsed by the news.

_That's not so bad – at least you have someone who can defeat him. It isn't as if there is no hope for the wizarding world. Now that we know what is going on in the world tell me us a little bit about your family._ The gloves seemed interested in Arthur's life as well as the world.

"First of all my name is Arthur, because I have a feeling you don't know that –"

_Well how were we supposed to know that, it's not as if you introduced yourself._

"Cranky, aren't you?" The left glove made a gesture very much like a person putting their hands on their hips, as the right glove was holding the quill.

"Okay, okay. I have a son, Bill working in Gringotts, a bank, he's staying in Egypt. Another son, Charlie, works in Romania, with dragons. My third son, Percy, I would rather not talk about. I have twin boys, Fred and George, who are in their last year of Hogwarts, the school. I also have another son, Ron, in his fifth year of Hogwarts and, a daughter, Ginny, in her fourth year of Hogwarts. My wife, Molly, stays at home and takes care of things there." Arthur found it easy to talk to the gloves and ended up doing so until the end of his shift.

* * *

**Author's Notes:** How did you like it? Could you read my other stories as well? It would be appreciated. I'll take any reviews I can get. My policy on reviewing: it's better to get a flame than nothing at all. You still don't want to? If you still don't want to review, then I encourage you to write a story. Then you'll understand how much reviews mean to writers and maybe you'll start reviewing other people's stories. Review! 


	3. Guarding with Gloves

**Spoilers:** OotP

**Disclaimer:** The characters and the Harry Potter enterprise belongs to JK Rowling and all of her affiliates. No trademark infringement is intended.

**Author's Notes:**

* * *

Arthur put on his bomber jacket and put the parchment and the gloves into the pockets. He folded up Moody's spare invisibility cloak and, after checking that he had not left anything behind, he apparated back home. He decided that he would not tell Molly of the gloves as he did not want a lecture as to why he should not be enchanting Muggle objects. He decided to hide the gloves and "talk" to them when he was alone and there was no chance anybody might find out that he still had something that might be "dangerous." They would be a good companion for those times that he was alone with nothing to do and there was a lot on his mind.

Arthur used them when he was alone at number 12 Grimmuald Place, standing guard over the Department of Mysteries and when he was alone at work with nothing left to do. The gloves proved to be very intelligent and knowledgeable. They were good companions for Arthur and gave him good advice when he needed it. Arthur thought he would have the gloves as a companion for a very long time.

December came very quickly for Arthur. About a week before Christmas, he had guard duty. He didn't like that he had guard duty so close to Christmas but, at least he didn't have guard duty on Christmas Eve, or Christmas Day. He felt sorry for whoever would have guard duty o those days. He spent some time "talking" to the gloves about Christmas and some of his plans. He was starting to feel drowsy so, he put the parchment, ink and quill into his cloak and fixed the invisibility cloak. He trusted that the gloves would wake him up in case something was happening.

He was starting to doze off when the gloves did something very weird. They started jumping up on their last 3 fingers and pointing with their index fingers at something on the ground. Arthur looked up and his eyes swept the floor. At first he didn't see anything. Then the gloves jumped into his pocket. He found this weird but, knew that it meant that danger was coming. Then he saw it; a twelve foot snake was slithering towards him. He jumped up and drew his wand from his waist but, he was too late. The snake bit him, once, twice, three times. The last thing he saw, before losing consciousness, was the gloves trying to shoo the snake away.

Arthur woke up to a Healer changing bandages around his middle. He started moving and the Healer noticed that he was awake.

"Oh, good – you're awake. I'm the Trainee-Healer, Augustus Pye. I'll get the Healer-in-Charge for you." He started moving away.

Arthur stopped him. "Wait – what happened?" Arthur only vaguely remembered the snake and it biting him.

"You were bitten by a snake. I'll get the Healer and he'll explain everything." Pye left and Arthur was left wondering exactly what happen. Before long, the Healer came.

"I'm the Healer-in-Charge, Hippocrates Smethwyck. You were the victim of three snake bites. You are very lucky to be alive."

"Well that's relieving. As long as I know I'm close to dying. How long will I stay here?" Arthur wanted to at least know what was going on.

"You'll have to stay here for a few days more, over Christmas but, you seem fine and I don't think you'll be staying here all that long. It's just a matter of the wound healing and closing up." The Healer knew that he would not be staying long but, he would want to see the news and what's going on so, he gave him a copy of the _Daily Prophet_.

Arthur sat up and started reading the newspaper and he wondered if he would get his gloves back because he would be very bored having to sit alone. After finishing the newspaper he looked around the room. There was a woman sleeping but, her leg was above the bedspread and you could see that a big piece had been bitten off. There was also a man sitting up in bed, looking at Arthur.

"Hello, I'm Arthur Weasley."

"Yes, I know. I saw you being brought in. from what I heard you got really bloodied up by a snake. I feel sorry for you but, at least you'll get better."

"Well, since you know about me, why don't you tell me about yourself? Like, why you're here; you don't seem very sick to me."

"I got bitten by a werewolf so, I'm getting treated here until I can be on my own. It's pretty hopeless for me. I would even, rather have your three snakebites than my werewolf bite. Nobody knows what it's like." He seemed forlorn about his luck.

"It's not all that bad. I have a friend who finds the condition quite manageable and he got his bite as a small child. There is a potion called the Wolfsbane Potion, it helps you keep your mind when you transform. It's –"

"Shut up or, unless you want another bite." The man turned away from him and went to sleep. Soon Molly came and started fussing about.

"Don't worry, Molly. The Healer says I'm fine and am going to go home a little after Christmas. I only need to stay to get the wound healed." Arthur wanted to reassure her.

"Alright, but, I'm staying here and watching over you." Arthur looked like he was about to protest so, Molly repeated once again, more firmly this time, "I'm staying." Arthur drifted off to sleep feeling reassured that his wife was there. He was sleeping so peacefully that he didn't hear Molly sending out an owl to tell the kids the good news. He couldn't hear Bill coming in and relieving Molly of her burden so that she could visit her kids and reassure them once again that everything was fine.

* * *

**Author's Notes:** How did you like it? Could you read my other stories as well? It would be appreciated. I'll take any reviews I can get. My policy on reviewing: it's better to get a flame than nothing at all. You still don't want to? If you still don't want to review, then I encourage you to write a story. Then you'll understand how much reviews mean to writers and maybe you'll start reviewing other people's stories. Review!


	4. Conversations with Gloves

**Spoilers:** OotP

**Disclaimer:** The characters and the Harry Potter enterprise belongs to JK Rowling and all of her affiliates. No trademark infringement is intended.

**Author's Notes: **I'm so glad that a grand total of one person review this. Do I have to start begging or bribing? Alright fine, anyone who reviews gets mentioned in the next chapter. The chapters are all going to be about 1,000 words each so don't complain about lentgh. Enjoy!

* * *

Arthur woke up to see Bill, his oldest son, sitting in a chair next to the bed. Bill noticed that his dad had woken up and perked up considerably.

"Hey, dad, how are you feeling? Is everything okay?"

"Yes. Everything's fine; don't worry. It's only three snakebites." They both started laughing, somewhat uneasily and Arthur reassured him. "Really, everything's fine. I'll be able to leave as soon as the wound heals. The Healer says that will probably be a little after Christmas Day.

"That's good, dad." He looked at his watch. "I'll have to leave soon because I have to get to work in about 12 minutes." He started getting up but, Arthur stopped him.

"Okay, but, before you leave, could you give me my cloak?" Bill picked up the cloak and handed it to his dad. "Thanks, bye."

"You're welcome. I'll leave the chair here so you could put the cloak on it when you don't need it anymore. Bye." And with that, Bill apparated to work. Right after Bill left, Trainee Healer Pye came in. Arthur noticed the bandages had been changed.

"Whenever we try to take off your bandages you start bleeding like mad so, you can tell that it isn't a very good thing." Pye informed him that nonchalantly like it wasn't a big deal. This may have seemed insensitive but, it was the attitude a good Healer should have. He suddenly dropped his professional attitude. "But, there is another option." Arthur listened more carefully. "It's a Muggle method but," now Arthur was really paying attention. "It has been proven by Muggles to be quite effective." Arthur was eager to try whatever method Pye was talking about.

"Tell me more about it. I love Muggle things." Arthur was glad that he was not the only person interested in Muggles. He gestured to Pye to continue.

"I'm interested in complementary medicine, you know, Muggle remedies. "Arthur nodded. He did not know much about Muggle medicine. "Well – they're called stitches. They're more or less what they sound like. You sew up the skin until the wound heals. It helps the skin keep together. It's dead useful." Arthur knew that this would be very useful.

"Yes, I think I'll try it." He was excited about trying this method. The trainee Healer rushed off to get the necessary tools. While Arthur waited he took his wand out from his cloak and put it on his bed-side cabinet. He also took out parchment a quill and some ink just as Pye rushed in. He started straitening out his bed and propping him up. While he did this, he whispered to Arthur.

"We'll try them later so that Smethwyck won't notice anything." Just as he said this Smethwyck came in. He examined Arthur and told Pye something, who rushed off. Smethwyck did some more tests and just as he finished Pye came back in. He was holding some sort of vial. The vial was handed to Arthur and Smethwyck told him to drink it. As he did so, Arthur felt a tingling sensation in his veins. He looked quizzically at the Healer.

Smethwyck answered his unasked question. "That was a blood revival potion. You will need to take one every hour. You lost a lot of blood and we need to get it back. We're working on a potion so that you will stop bleeding long enough for the wound to heal. You're lucky that that's all you need to heal the wound. We will probably have a potion by Christmas and, at that rate we'll be able to change the bandages the day after Christmas and you'll go home shortly after that."

Arthur still had one question to ask. "What about the time between now and when you find a potion to heal the wound? What will you do then?"

"It's just going to be some basic tests to make sure that you're otherwise healthy and relaxation, and the blood revival potion. We'll probably have the remedy to heal the wound before Christmas. Pye or I will come back in a few hours to check up on you. You can get visitors now, if you want." He took back the potion and said a few words to Pye, who hurried after him. Arthur was vaguely reminded of Percy and Cornelius Fudge but, he pushed the thought away quickly.

He took his wand from his bedside cabinet and performed a spell which made his bedcovers solid and straight so that the gloves could write with no problem. Using the bottle of ink as a paperweight, he placed the parchment on his now solid bedcovers. The gloves stood up on the bedside cabinet and hopped onto the parchment. As usual the gloves had the quill and were dipping it in ink.

_What happened?_

"I can't be sure, but when I was guarding, a snake turned up and bit me 3 times in the ribs. Now I'm stuck in Mungo's, the hospital, until after the holidays." Arthur was speaking in a hushed voice to avoid waking up the other occupants of the room.

_I know that much, I'm not stupid you know. Your wife was worried about you._

"Yes, Molly worries a lot – sometimes too much. Did anything interesting happen when I was – uh – asleep?"

_Nope, not unless you count that guy,_ the other glove jabbed its finger at the werewolf, _growling at the guys trying to help him and making them run out of the room._

Arthur chuckled; he had not expected the gloves to have a sense of humor. "So that guy really does think that it's hopeless for him," Arthur muttered to himself but, the gloves had heard him nonetheless.

_Yes, he thinks that being a werewolf is the end of the world. Your – uh – pep talk didn't really help._

"I didn't think that him wanting to bite me meant that he had just realized that he has a chance. So, what do you think of this stitches thing?"

_I think that you're being really stupid and if your wife finds out about it you're going to be dead. Although, if it works you're going to heal faster and you'll have less time in this place; it's your choice though – and I know that you're going to do this._

"Okay, not that I didn't already know that but, I'm still going to do it."

_Wow, I, _the other glove would have glared if it had eyes, – _we are stunned. That was so unexpected – _the gloves suddenly stopped – _someone's waking up._

Arthur looked bemused that the gloves knew that but, hurriedly shoved the gloves into his pocket and picked up the quill himself. Sure enough, in a few seconds the werewolf woke up. He stretched and got out a copy of the _Daily Prophet_ and started reading. Arthur wrote a short note to Molly saying that he can get visitors now. He ripped that off from the place where the gloved had written and put it on top of his _Daily Prophet._ He organized his things a little bit and, after fixing his pillows, stated reading as well.

* * *

**Author's Notes:** How did you like it? Could you read my other stories as well? It would be appreciated. I'll take any reviews I can get. My policy on reviewing: it's better to get a flame than nothing at all. You still don't want to? If you still don't want to review, then I encourage you to write a story. Then you'll understand how much reviews mean to writers and maybe you'll start reviewing other people's stories. Review! 


	5. Gloves and Visiting

**Spoilers:** OotP

**Disclaimer:** The characters and the Harry Potter enterprise belongs to JK Rowling and all of her affiliates. No trademark infringement is intended. This chapter includes dialogue copied directly from OotP, pgs. 488-491 (American Version.)

**Author's Notes:**

* * *

Arthur kept reading until there was a considerable amount of noise outside his door. He looked over the top of the paper to see what was going on. Just then Molly, George, Fred, Ron, Ginny and Harry came in. Arthur threw the paper aside and cheerily greeted them.

"Hello!" he called. "Bill just left, Molly, had to get back to work, but he says he'll drop in on you later."

Molly bent down to kiss his cheek and looked anxiously at him. "How are you Arthur? You're still looking a bit peaky –"

Arthur didn't want his wife to worry so he said, brightly, "I feel absolutely fine. If only they could take off the bandages off, I'd be fit to go home." He gave Ginny a one armed hug.

"Why can't they take the bandages off, Dad?" asked Fred

"Well, I start bleeding like mad every time they try." Arthur had absolutely no problem saying this. He conjured six chairs for them to sit in. He explained that the venom has something inside it that keeps the wounds open and that they're doing everything they can to find an antidote. He also pointed out the guy who had been bitten by a werewolf.

Molly looked quite alarmed "A werewolf? Is he safe in a public ward? Shouldn't he be in a private room?"

Arthur tried to calm his wife. "It's two weeks until full moon. They've been talking to him this morning, the Healers, you know, trying to persuade him he'll be able to lead an almost normal life. I said to him — didn't mention names, of course — but I said I knew a werewolf personally, very nice man, who finds the condition quite easy to manage."

"What did he say?" asked George.

Arthur sadly told them. "Said he'd give me another bite if I didn't shut up. And that woman over there," he pointed out the woman with the chunk missing from her leg, "won't tell the healers what bit her, which makes us all think it must have been something she was handling illegally. Whatever it was took a real chunk out of her leg, very nasty smell when you take off the dressings."

Fred pulled his chair closer to Arthur's bed and asked "So, you going to tell us what happened, Dad?"

Looking pointedly at Harry, Arthur answered. "Well, you already know, don't you? It's simple — I'd had a very long day, dozed off, got sneaked up on and bitten."

Fred still had more questions. He pointed at the Daily Prophet. "Is it in the _Prophet_, you being attacked?"

"No, of course not, the Ministry wouldn't want everyone to know a great dirty serpent got —"

"Arthur!" Molly had barely stopped him from saying it.

"— got — er — me."

"So where were you when it happened, Dad?" Those twins are so full of questions.

"That's my business." Arthur had to keep away from that subject with the kids around. He saw the _Daily_ _Prophet_ and his opportunity. He started talking about Willy Widdershins and what he had read about him but, Fred interrupted him yet again.

"When you say you were 'on duty' what were you doing?"

This time, Molly saved his skin. "You heard your father, we are not discussing this here. Go on about Willy Widdershins, Arthur —"

Arthur tried to continue but, this time George interrupted him.

"You were guarding it, weren't you? The weapon? The thing You-Know-Who's after?

Molly was really starting to lose her temper. "George, be quiet" she snapped.

Arthur continued about the biting doorknobs and even got to the point that there were supposedly Muggles in St. Mungo's before he was interrupted.

This time it was Fred. When he asked his question he looked at Arthur for a reaction. "Didn't you say You-Know-Who's got a snake, Harry? A massive one? You saw it the night he returned, didn't you?"

"That's enough," said Molly crossly she directed her next comment at her husband. "Mad-Eye and Tonks are outside, Arthur, they want to come and see you. And you lot can stay outside." She added to the kids. "You can come and say good-bye afterward. Go on."

Then Tonks and Mad-Eye came in. They grouped closed together and talked quietly.

The first thing that Arthur asked was if they had found the snake. It was Tonks who answered him.

"No, they searched the whole are but they couldn't find the snake anywhere, it just seems to have vanished after it attacked you, Arthur." She hesitated a bit. "But You-Know-Who can't have expected a snake to get in, can he?"

Mad-Eye seemed to have an answer to this. "I reckon he sent it as a lookout, 'cause he's not had any luck so far, has he? No, I reckon he's trying to get a clearer picture of what he's facing and if Arthur hadn't been there the beast would have had much more time to look around." He started again on a different track. "So, Potter says he saw it all happen."

This was an uneasy topic for Molly. "Yes," she answered "You know, Dumbledore seems almost to have been waiting for Harry to see something like this...." She let her sentence hang unfinished.

"Yeah, well there's something funny about the Potter kid, we all know that," Mad-Eye said this reluctantly.

"Dumbledore seemed worried about Harry when I spoke to him this morning." Molly seemed worried as she said this.

Mad-Eye seemed to be the only one willing to continue this conversation. "'Course he's worried. The boy's seeing things from inside You-Know-Who's snake. Obviously Potter doesn't realize what that means, but if You-Know-Who's possessing him, than Oclumency the best thing for him. However much he doesn't want to do it, he's going to have to teach that boy Oclumency." The conversation dragged on like this for quite a while.

When it was over, Arthur was glad but, he worried about what he had found out. He wondered how they were going to be able to guard it any longer and how Severus would teach Harry with his grudge against James.

* * *

**Author's Notes:** How did you like it? Could you read my other stories as well? It would be appreciated. I'll take any reviews I can get. My policy on reviewing: it's better to get a flame than nothing at all. You still don't want to? If you still don't want to review, then I encourage you to write a story. Then you'll understand how much reviews mean to writers and maybe you'll start reviewing other people's stories. Review!


	6. Stitches on Gloves

**Spoilers:** OotP

**Disclaimer:** The characters and the Harry Potter enterprise belongs to JK Rowling and all of her affiliates. No trademark infringement is intended.

**Author's Notes:** This chapter was written in the early morning under the influence of Red Bull and chocolate, forgive me if it seems a bit hyper.

* * *

Things were quiet for a while until a few days before Christmas. It was then that Arthur decided to try out stitches. The talk with Mad-Eye and Tonks was still bothering him but, he decided to put it out of his mind. The days passed by easily and nothing really happened in the ward. The woman still didn't tell anyone what happened to her and the werewolf still stubbornly thought that there was no hope for him. Christmas Eve soon came. It was then that Pye came to visit Arthur.

"How are you doing today?"

"I'm doing fine, much better than I was." This was true, Arthur had improved greatly.

"My offer of giving you stitches still stands. If you are still interested, this would be ideal time to try them. I change your bandages on the 26th, so, if we do it now then, People shouldn't notice that the bandages were changed a little early." Pye seemed to have timed this beforehand so that everything was well planned.

"Of course I still want to try the stitches! Can we do them now?" Arthur seemed cheered by such good news on Christmas Eve and could now be considered quite excitable. Fortunately, Pye seemed to be thinking along the same lines.

"Yes, that's what I was hoping for. Robert Payne is in for counseling for the next few hours and Agatha Smythe is being re-diagnosed and that could take a while so we have this time free to ourselves. Should I get the tools ready?" Pye was ready to try a new muggle remedy any day.

Arthur did not recognize the two names that Pye had said but, he guessed they we the werewolf and the woman with the mangled leg, respectively. He addressed Pye, "Yes, please do." He watched as the young boy rushed out of the ward to get the tools while thinking about what stitches might be like. Soon after, Pye arrived back in the ward, locking the door behind him carefully.

"Alright, we're ready. I told Smethwyck that I was doing an analysis of blood for you so that he wouldn't get suspicious, I even wrote up a sign and that claims that and put in on the door. We should be alone for about an hour so, we can easily finish this, with time to spare." He laid out the tools and was soon ready to start. He performed a numbing spell on Arthur's midriff, so that Arthur would feel anything and, took out the threaded needle that he would use for the stitches. Arthur had only seen needles occasionally, even in his line of work and Pye answered his unasked question while taking the bandages off from Arthur.

"This is a needle. It was once used to make clothes but, now, is only used for minor repairs. They seemed to have made better ways of making clothes." He had finally unwrapped the bandage and he disposed of the old item. He hesitated a bit but, made started sewing up the wound while Arthur watched the progress. As he finished sewing up the wound and knotted and broke off the rest of the thread. The process seemed to have worked for a few seconds but then, a very strange thing happened. The stitches themselves seemed to have dissolved. Arthur and Pye stared at them perplexedly. Arthur turned to Pye, "Was that supposed to have happened?" He seemed to be dreading the answer.

Pye answered with some disappointment with his voice. "No. That definitely was not supposed to have happened. The blood seems to still be affected with the snake venom. Whatever's still in your blood is strong enough to melt string. Stitches won't work on you after all."

Arthur also sounded disappointed at the result. "Perhaps, its best that it didn't work, it's for the better." He said these words only halfheartedly.

Pye went into the routine that he had claimed to be doing to his superiors. Handing a potion to Arthur he said "Drink this potion; we should replenish your blood supply now." Arthur did so without comment and handed the vial back to Pye. "I'll do an analysis of your blood since we have more time on our hands and it would support my story." Arthur nodded his assent and Pye began the routine. He extracted a bit of blood from Arthur and after re-bandaging him; he performed a sequence of spells on the blood to test it. After about a quarter of an hour, Pye was finished.

"It doesn't seem all that bad for you anymore. Most of the poison has left your system except from a small amount. The poison that is left seems to be the thing working to keep the wound open. I'll show this sample to Smethwyck to show him what I found out." He vanished the tools that he had used to try to apply the stitches and straightened the whole room to make the room look a little more acceptable. As he finished he took the vial with Arthur's blood sample and the report he had written up and turned to Artur. "I'm to show this to Smethwyck now; I'll tell you later what this means. You should take this time to relax. Oh, I have another newspaper for you." He handed Arthur the newspaper and left the room. Arthur laid in bed for a while until Robert Payne and Agatha Smythe came back. He then started reading the paper a bit. Pye didn't come back at all that night and this made Arthur worry. Eventually as night fell, Arthur fell asleep. This Christmas was one he had come to dread.

* * *

**Author's Notes:** How did you like it? Could you read my other stories as well? It would be appreciated. I'll take any reviews I can get. My policy on reviewing: it's better to get a flame than nothing at all. You still don't want to? If you still don't want to review, then I encourage you to write a story. Then you'll understand how much reviews mean to writers and maybe you'll start reviewing other people's stories. Review!


	7. Christmas Gloves

**Spoilers:** OotP

**Disclaimer:** The characters and the Harry Potter enterprise belongs to JK Rowling and all of her affiliates. No trademark infringement is intended. This chapter includes dialogue directly from OotP, pgs. 506 & 507 (American Version.)

**Author's Notes:**

* * *

Arthur woke up on Christmas Day with a clear head and a worried conscience. Last night's fiasco was still fresh on his mind and he had a bad feeling about it all. Soon after Arthur had woken up, a special Christmas breakfast came. Arthur and the other inhabitants of the ward ate with enthusiasm and their mood seemed to rise. Arthur had nearly forgotten his predicament but, Pye came into the ward. Arthur's mood dropped dramatically; Pye had a worried look on his face. After checking up on the other patients, Pye came up to Arthur.

"Happy Christmas. How are you feeling?" Pye was polite to him as he would be to other patients.

"Happy Christmas. I'm feeling fine, now." Arthur also chose to be polite to Pye.

"I showed the results of the blood analysis test to Smethwyck. He asked me to get more of your blood so he can test something out. He also said that he was going to want to see you after he gets more blood. I have no idea what it's about but, I think it's about yesterday. I'll be back in a little while to get more blood from you." Pye tried to keep his manner as professional as possible and to not let anything slip that the other patients could tell Smethwyck.

Arthur nodded. "Alright, I'll be waiting for you." He didn't very much like the fact that Smethwyck wanted to see him. He suspected that Smethwyck had somehow realized what had happened with the stitches and expected the worst but, he did not let that show. As Pye was leaving he also gave him a newspaper. Arthur read for a while and, Pye soon came back. Like the last time, he took a sample of Arthur's blood. He gave Arthur a blood replenishing potion and changed the bandages so that he could see how the wound was healing. He got rid of the tools and looked at the clock in the ward. He received a shock to see that it was afternoon. He cursed quietly under his breath and addressed Arthur.

"I'm sorry, but, I have to go to a meeting now. I won't get a chance to give this," he pointed to the vial of Arthur's blood, "to Smethwyck. He should be coming soon so, when he comes, give the vial to him and tell him that I could not give it to him myself because I had to go to a meeting. I should be back pretty soon." He gave a half smile and hurried off out of the ward. Again, Arthur was reminded of Percy; he tried to push the thought out of his mind, he was in a bad enough situation without being reminded of Percy.

Smethwyck did not come but dinner did. It was turkey and Arthur ate the meal in still a gloomy mood but, he covered it up quite well. As he heard noise outside the door he thought it might be Smethwyck but, he turned out to wrong. It was Remus, Mad-Eye, Remus, Molly and the kids. They all greeted him cheerily and gave him their presents.

Molly did not seem to be satisfied with my expression. "Everything all right, Arthur?"

"Fine, fine," Arthur tried to sound cheerful. "You — er — haven't seen Healer Smethwyck, have you?" He added this carefully.

"No, why?" Molly seemed to get suspicious of what Arthur said.

"Nothing, nothing," Arthur tried to avert the conversation from his health. He started opening Harry's present which was on the top of the pile. He addressed the general crowd. "Well, everyone had a good day? What did you all get for Christmas?" He looked down at Harry's present for him; it was foose-wire and scewdivers. "Oh _Harry _— this is absolutely _wonderful _—" Arthur reached over to shake Harry's hand.

Molly, however, was peering at the bandaging over Arthur's wound. "Arthur, you've had your bandages changed." There was a snap in her voice that Arthur well recognized by now. "Why have you had your bandages changed a day early, Arthur? They told they wouldn't need doing until tomorrow."

Arthur was getting nervous now. "No, no — it's nothing — it's — I—" He looked at Molly's face and, the rest of his courage was gone. "Well — now don't get upset, Molly, but Augustus Pye had an idea . . . He's the Trainee Healer, you know, lovely young chap and very interested in . . . um . . . complementary medicine. . . . I mean, some of those old Muggle remedies . . . well, they're called _stitches_, Molly, and they work very well on —on Muggle wounds."

Molly made a sound that was halfway between a shriek and a snarl. Arthur knew this sound well and so did the others around his bed. Remus walked away casually to the werewolf, who seemed envious of the crowd around Mr. Weasley. Bill muttered something and left the ward, the twins hot on his tail. Molly seemed unaware that everyone in the ward was cautious of her.

"Do you mean to tell me, that you have been messing about with Muggle remedies?" Her voice was growing louder with every word that she uttered and it was clear that she was close to exploding.

Arthur now had a pleading tone in his voice. "Not messing about, Molly, dear. It was just — just something Pye and I thought we'd try — only, most unfortunately — well, with these particular kinds of wounds — it doesn't seem to work as well as we'd hoped —"

"_Meaning_?"

Molly's mood wasn't getting better. Arthur was still hesitating. "Well . . . well, I don't know whether you know what — what stitches are?"

Molly let out a crazed laugh. "It sounds as though you're trying to sew your skin back together, but even you, Arthur, wouldn't be _that_ stupid—"

"Well—that _is_ the . . . um . . . general idea."

"WHAT DO YOU MEAN, THAT'S THE GENERAL IDEA?"

By now, everyone else who had arrived to visit him had disappeared. Harry, Ron, Hermione and Ginny all left the ward and, Arthur wished that he could have gone with them. Even Mad-Eye backed away to the woman with the chunk missing from her leg.

"Well — Pye tried to sew the skin back together —"

"_TRIED_?"

"Yes — the stitches melted so it really made no difference."

"SO YOU SEWED YOUR SKIN TOGETHER AND IT DIDN'T _REALLY _WORK?" Arthur nodded meekly. "YOU SEE HOW USELESS IT WAS? SHOULDN'T YOU HAVE AVOIDED IT IN THE FIRST PLACE?" Arthur kept nodding throughout her rant and eventually her rant ended. After a little, Molly and the others left and, Arthur could breathe a sigh of relief. After Molly, he could surely take Smethwyck but, when he heard Smethwyck coming, that thought dissolved and he was as terrified as ever.

"Hello. How are you doing Arthur?"

"Hello. I'm feeling better than I was. Here's the blood sample you wanted." He handed Smethwyck the vial and was about to start the explanation that Pye had given him but, Smethwyck interrupted him.

"Don't worry. I know why Pye couldn't give it to me. Now, I want to talk to you." Arthur gulped at this quite audibly. "It's nothing bad; in fact, I have good news for you. I think I have an antidote for you." Arthur was no longer worried and his face had brightened up considerably.

"That's great!"

"Yes, it is. I'm just going to perform some final tests on your blood and I'm going to be able to try in on you soon. You can expect me to come back tomorrow or the day after that to give it to you."

"Alright, I'll be waiting for you."

"That's fine. Oh, and before I forget, Happy Christmas"

"Happy Christmas." Smethwyck left and that night, Arthur slept soundly. Molly may have screamed at him but, Smethwyck hadn't found out and, he was going to be cured soon and, he had gotten great presents. What's not to love about a Christmas like that? Arthur sure knew that he couldn't think of anything.

* * *

**Author's Notes:** How did you like it? Could you read my other stories as well? It would be appreciated. I'll take any reviews I can get. My policy on reviewing: it's better to get a flame than nothing at all. You still don't want to? If you still don't want to review, then I encourage you to write a story. Then you'll understand how much reviews mean to writers and maybe you'll start reviewing other people's stories. Review!


	8. Grudges and Gloves

**Spoilers:** OotP

**Disclaimer:** The characters and the Harry Potter enterprise belongs to JK Rowling and all of her affiliates. No trademark infringement is intended. This chapter includes dialogue directly from OotP, pgs. 521 & 522 (American version.)

**Author's Notes:**

* * *

So Arthur waited for the testing on his blood to be done. He was willing to wait the time because he knew that as soon as the testing would be done, he would be getting the antidote and out of the hospital. He didn't like waiting but knew that it could have been worse.

Smethwyck kept him updated through all the tests and occasionally asked for more blood. Arthur had started out not liking him much but now, he regarded him as he did Pye, as a friend. The werewolf had suddenly turned friendly to him and they talked like old friends. While he waited for testing to be done he mostly read newspapers, talked and slept. He was kept up with the news from the Order and still acted as part of it; he just could not take any action supporting that. In fact, the only thing that he found unfavorable was the thing he had forgotten about. He had not "talked" to the gloves for some time now. The last time he had talked to them was when he had brought up the possibility of stitches.

The end of holiday was coming for the kids and Arthur had been told that he would get the antidote soon. When he woke up alone in the ward he knew what he had to do. He had to take advantage of his being alone. He had to talk to the gloves.

Arthur took out his wand, parchment a quill and an inkbottle. He straightened out his sheets and performed a spell which hardened the sheets, so that he could use it to have something to write on. He spread the parchment over the hard area and used the inkbottle as a paperweight to one end and placed the quill in the middle of the parchment. He took out the gloves from his pockets and placed them on either side of the quill.

The gloves turned to Arthur somewhat hesitantly and picked up the quill as they always did. They started writing but turned towards Arthur every few seconds.

_So you finally realized that we're sitting in your pockets, rotting away._

"Ye—No! I was busy and I couldn't talk to you as much as I would have wanted to." He understood why the gloves felt the way they did but did not expect them to be so bitter.

_Busy with things more important than us, right?_

"Well in a way—no, not like that. They're testing my blood and ask for more every few days. I'm not as strong as I was before all this started. My wife and the Order have been fussing over me and I couldn't just forget my duties. I couldn't get a chance to talk to you until now."

If it was possible for gloves, they immediately perked up. _Well now you do have a chance to talk to us. What happened with the stitches and why are you getting your blood tested?_

Arthur smiled. Yes, the gloves were back to normal. "All in good time, my friends. The stitches didn't exactly work—"

_We told you not to mess around with muggle remedies. Didn't we tell you to keep away from them?_

"Yes, well, spare me the speech. Molly already gave it to me, and probably the rest of the hall, too."

_That was your wife? She woke us up. That's some spell that she knows._

Arthur was confused for a moment. "Oh no, she wasn't using the _Sonorus_ Charm. She can just scream that loud naturally."

_Yikes. So that's some voice she has._

"Yes, well, onto the rest of the story. The stitches seemed to work at first but they melted away. Smethwyck never found out but, Molly did. She screamed at me, as you heard. Smethwyck did find what he thinks is the antidote to the poison in my blood. That's what they're testing my blood for. They're checking that it will work and won't have any negative side effects."

_See? If you had just waited for an antidote you would have avoided testing something you never even heard of before. _The gloves paused._ How are you now?_

"Fine, fine, I'm just a little weak. I'm not so sure about Payne and Smythe, though."

The gloves of course had not yet found the names of the others in the ward and were confused. _Who and who?_

"Ah, sorry. I forgot that you didn't know. Robert Payne is the werewolf and Agatha Smythe is the woman with the chunk missing from her leg. Payne is starting to talk to me and Smythe keeps staring at me. Probably because Lupin, a werewolf friend, talked to Payne and Moody, a scary guy, talked to Smythe while Molly was screaming her throat out at me."

_Ah._ The gloves paused. _Someone's coming._ They dropped the quill and ran on their fingers, each to one of Arthur's pockets. Arthur looked at them in astonishment but nevertheless picked up the quill and started rolling up the parchment, as if he had finished a letter. He sealed the letter and put it away, with the quill and inkbottle. He took the spell off the bedspread and put the wand on the bedside table just as the door opened. It was Smethwyck.

What was unexpected was that Smethwyck was smiling. He was also carrying three vials full of liquid. One was silver, one was purple and the other was red. The red he recognized as the blood replenishing potion he had been taking since he came to St. Mungo's. The purple he knew was a dreamless sleep potion. The silver, however, he did not recognize.

"Well, Arthur, I think I have the antidote to the snake venom. First I want you to drink some more blood replenishing potion. The use of it has gotten rid of some of the venom. Then I'm going to give you the potion we made and a dreamless sleep potion so you can rest." Smethwyck handed Arthur the vials in that order: red, silver and purple. Arthur drank them all and after he drank the last drop of the dreamless sleep potion, he was asleep.

When Arthur woke up he felt better than he had in a long time. He wasn't tired and worn out anymore. He felt better than he had been before the snake bite. In his mind, he was thanking Smethwyck for healing him. As if on cue, that was the moment that Smethwyck came in.

"Oh, good. You're awake now. How are you feeling?" He was cautious of Arthur and did not seem overly enthusiastic.

Arthur, however, was overly enthusiastic. "Great!"

"Good," there was relief in his voice. "When you were asleep, I tested your blood and I'm almost positive that there's no more poison in your veins but other than that, I wasn't very sure."

"Well, I am very sure. I haven't felt this good for a while." Arthur was smiling widely and he reassured Smethwyck more than necessary.

"That is good. I'm going to tell your wife that you are free to go. I suggest that you say goodbye because you should be leaving tomorrow."

"Alright, I will." Smethwyck left and Arthur lay back down. He was finally leaving and he would still see the kids before they left. That day and the next would just be a lot of testing and resting but Arthur could deal with it because of the prize at the end.

The next day his testing was finally done and he was ready to leave the hospital. Bill, Fred and George came to pick him up in a car that had been "borrowed" by Mundungus. He was only wearing striped pajamas with a mackintosh over them. On the trip back to the Burrow, he chatted to his sons pleasantly. When he arrived home, he was greeted with his overbearing wife, his other kids and Hermione. They seemed happy to see him again. Molly was fussing again but he interrupted her by going to find Harry and Sirius. He walked through the house and saw that there were shapes moving in the kitchen rather bigger than Kreacher could ever be. The rest of the Weasleys and Hermione were on his heals, hurrying to catch up with him.

With a smile on his face, he walked into the kitchen and announced, to nobody in particular, "Cured! Completely Cured!" When he saw what was going on in the kitchen, however, that smile left his face. Severus and Sirius were facing each other with wands drawn and Harry was in between them, trying to separate them. "Merlin's beard, what's going on here?"

Severus and Sirius lowered their wands. Severus put his wand away and walked across the room. He turned back and addressed Harry, "Six o'clock Monday evening, Potter." Severus left and Sirius glared after him.

Arthur found that this gave him no information; it just confused him even more. "But what's been going on?"

Sirius was breathing heavily but he was careful when he answered. "Nothing Arthur. Just a friendly little chat between two old school friends...." He smiled but Arthur knew that it was not a real smile. "So ... you're cured? That's great news, really great...."

Molly came to the rescue and lead Arthur into a chair. "Yes, isn't it? Healer Smethwyck worked his magic in the end, found an antidote to whatever that snake's got in its fangs, and Arthur's learned his lesson about dabbling in Muggle medicine, _haven't you dear?_" the save part was short-lived with this threat.

"Yes, dear." Arthur answered, rather frightened.

That meal should have been enjoyable because the kids had to go back to school but the tension was evident. Even Sirius, the most cheerful of the group seemed sullen. Arthur tried to make the most of it but he could not. Arthur hoped that maybe the grudges being held could dissolve but he knew that it was impossible. Everyone else seemed to be neutral moods and the meal did not come off to be a total disaster. The next day would not be much more cheerful and Arthur would have to get back to work. It would get better soon.

* * *

**Author's Notes:** How did you like it? Could you read my other stories as well? It would be appreciated. I'll take any reviews I can get. My policy on reviewing: it's better to get a flame than nothing at all. You still don't want to? If you still don't want to review, then I encourage you to write a story. Then you'll understand how much reviews mean to writers and maybe you'll start reviewing other people's stories. Review!


	9. Gloves Bring Surprises

**Spoilers:** OotP

**Disclaimer:** The characters and the Harry Potter enterprise belongs to JK Rowling and all of her affiliates. No trademark infringement is intended. The articles are directly from OotP, pgs. 544 - 547 (American version.)

**Author's Notes:** This chapter was originally shorter but was edited for length because of a rule on another site where I post (75 of the work has to be your's.)

Okay, I am sick: my back aches, my head is pounding and my throught is killing me. Cheer me up. Actually review!

* * *

The next day, the children went back to school in an uneventful manner. They had taken the Knight Bus and by the time they arrived at Hogwarts, Arthur was at work falling back into a pattern he had not seen since his snake bite. Everyone he saw on his way to work questioned him on his health and gave their condolences to him. All that attention made him nervous and he suddenly had a shrewd idea of how Harry felt anytime he was in a public place. 

As he was going to his office something happened that he would have never expected. He passed Percy in the hall and instead of ignoring his father, as he usually did; he gave him a small sympathetic smile and walked away, briskly. Arthur stopped in his tracks, stunned. Since when had Percy shown him any sign of sympathy? Since when had Percy even acknowledged his existence? Arthur walked away, perplexedly and as he walked to his office, he did not meet anyone else.

When he entered his office, he saw that Perkins was already hard at work but he did not seem to be swamped with work, as Arthur had expected him to be. Perkins had far surpassed the healthy age to be working in a stressful job as this.

The day ended quickly for Arthur. He had work to catch up with and it was something he was not very used to anymore. When he arrived at headquarters, he saw that it was empty and took the opportunity to talk to the gloves. They laughed, not literally of course, at his reaction to all that attention he had received throughout the day. They were as perplexed as Arthur as at Percy's actions but they did not offer any explanation that Arthur had not thought of and discarded because of its credibility.

As January passed by, Arthur was kept informed of what was going on. The Order still invited him to their meetings and told them their plans and suspicions. They were still worried about Arthur's health, so they excused him from guard duty. He felt as if they were worrying too much about him but he could not pretend that he was not relieved at that development.

One of the things that was worrying him the most was the state of the Occlumency lessons. Severus was, by duty, keeping them posted on Harry's progress, but there seemed to be none of that. Severus seemed to be tormenting Harry for his father's choices. This was a point of worry for the Order, they needed Harry to be resistant of Voldermort but, their plan, which had seemed so good when they had decided upon it, did not seem to have any effect.

One January day, Arthur got quite a surprise with his daily delivery of the _Daily Prophet_. Two of them, in fact. He received the newspaper everyday and had it specially arranged so that it arrived to his office so he could read it every morning while he still had no real work to do.

Arthur settled himself behind his desk and took the Daily Prophet from the in-tray. Smoothing it out, he looked, tiredly, at the front page. Taking up all of the space of the front page, was ten pictures of people, nine of men and one of a woman. Each picture had a caption of the person's name and the crime they had been sent to Azkaban for. Arthur shook himself out of the morning daze he had been in and read the article following it.

**MASS BREAKOUT FROM AZKABAN**

**MINISTRY FEARS THE BLACK IS "RALLYING PO****INT"**** FOR OLD DEATH EATERS**

_The Ministry of Magic announced late last night that there has been a mass breakout from Azkaban._

_Speaking to reporters in his private office, Cornelius Fudge, Minister of Magic, confirmed that ten high security prisoners escaped in the early hours of yesterday evening, and that he had already informed the Muggle Prime Minister of the dangerous nature of these individuals._

_"We find ourselves, most unfortunately, in the same position we were two and a half year ago when the murderer Sirius Black escaped," said Fudge last night. "Nor do we think that the two breakouts are unrelated. An escape of this magnitude suggests outside help, and we must remember that Black, as the first person to ever break out from Azkaban, would be ideally placed to help others follow in his footsteps. We think it likely that these individuals, who include Black's cousin, Bellatrix Lestrange, have rallied around Black as their leader. We are, however, dong all we can to round up the criminals and beg the magical community to remain alert and cautious. On no account should any of these individuals be approached."_

Arthur finished the article with a gasp. This was horrible. The Order had been afraid of this, but they had not expected it to happen so quickly. Somewhat shakily, Arthur opened the newspaper and read the rest of this horrible news. By the time he was finished, he was very pale.

Perkins had come in while Arthur was reading the article and he noticed Arthur's expression. "What happened?" Arthur soundlessly passed the newspaper to Perkins and sat back at his desk, deep in though.

Perkins read the article himself and was also quite pale. "Well … that's definitely something." He handed the newspaper back to Arthur and relaxed back into his chair, his hands covering is aged face.

Arthur sighed and got back to skimming the newspaper. He thought he couldn't be surprised now, but, of course, he turned out to be wrong. Another article caught his eye on page ten.

**TRAGIC DEMISE OF**

**MINISTRY OF MAGIC WORKER**

_St. Mungo's Hospital promised a full inquiry last night after Ministry of Magic worker Broderick Bode, 49, was discovered dead in his bed, strangled by a potted-plant. Healers called to the scene were unable to revive Mr. Bode, who had been injured in a workplace accident some weeks prior to his death._

_Healer Miriam Strout, who was in charge of Mr. Bode's ward at the time of the accident, has been suspended on full pay and was unavailable for comment yesterday, but a spokeswizard for the hospital said in a statement, "St. Mungo's deeply regrets the death of Mr. Bode, whose health was improving steadily prior to this tragic accident._

_"We have strict guidelines on the decorations permitted on our wards but it appears that Healer Strout, busy over the Christmas period, overlooked the dangers of the plant on Mr. Bode's bedside table. As his speech and mobility improved, Healer Strout encouraged Mr. Bode to look after the plant himself, unaware that it was not an innocent Flitterbloom, but a cutting of Devil's Snare, which, when touched by the convalescent Mr. Bode, throttled him instantly._

_"St. Mungo's is yet unable to account for the presence of the plant on the ward and asks any witch or wizard with information to come forward."_

Arthur was shocked. This was a murder, and a clever one at that. Nobody knew who had done it and very few, outside the Order, would know the reason, and they sure wouldn't talk. Bode had been an important part of their group and now he was gone.

It was a possibility that Voldermort had found out about Bode's loyalties, but it was also likely that he had been used for the fact that he worked in the Department of Mysteries and could easily pull off the job of getting the prophecy. Voldermort must have been angry when he couldn't get the prophecy, but definitely had no remorse over Bode. He had no other use for him and he knew too much as it was. It was only a complication in their plan when he had started to recover.

That was the why. The who was a little more of a problem. It had to have been ordered by Voldermort, there was no doubt about that, but it was very unlikely that he had bothered to do the dirty work himself. After all, that is what he has his Death Eaters for. It could have been someone involved with plants, so they could acquire the Devil's Snare easily, someone involved with the Hospital, so they could avoid security, or just some high up who he trusted with the plan. For all Arthur knew, it could have been Severus, but then the Order would know about it beforehand.

Arthur skimmed the rest of the newspaper, and luckily, nothing else had happened. He let Perkins read the rest of the paper, as usual, and got to work.

It was a very normal day in most respects. He worked with a couple common artifacts and filed the necessary reports. He took off the charms and fiddled around a bit with what he had. Among other things, he had had a couple of keys that turned to rubber when put in locks and a magnifying glass that makes things smaller. Both were very amusing to Arthur, even with the charms taken off. There was nothing strange in that, to Arthur at least. He liked doing that. It gave him a chance to learn more about Muggles and their enigma.

He set up arrangements with Obliviator Headquarters and talked with a few friends there. He even bothered to personally deliver the fixed artifacts to a person in charge of distributing things to Muggles, a duty he usually skipped for the lack of time to do it in. The artifacts he had dealt with were nothing new; he had dealt with all of them previously.

Sometimes his job felt a bit boring for a lack of new things. You could only learn so much about a couple of things. This was one of those days where he wished his job was more exciting, though he was moderately glad that he wouldn't have to deal with much else other than the shocking articles. The rest of the day passed uneventfully, but Arthur had things to do when he got back to Grimmuald Place.

* * *

**Author's Notes:** How did you like it? Could you read my other stories as well? It would be appreciated. I'll take any reviews I can get. My policy on reviewing: it's better to get a flame than nothing at all. You still don't want to? If you still don't want to review, then I encourage you to write a story. Then you'll understand how much reviews mean to writers and maybe you'll start reviewing other people's stories. Review! 


	10. Gloves and Catching Up

**Spoilers:** OotP

**Disclaimer:** The characters and the Harry Potter enterprise belongs to JK Rowling and all of her affiliates. No trademark infringement is intended.

**Author's Notes:**

**

* * *

**

Arthur apparated back to Grimmuald Place. After a quick survey of his surroundings, he saw that he was alone in the house, save for Sirius and Buckbeak at the top of the house.

He grabbed a quill, ink and parchment and headed to the basement kitchen. It was not very comfortable but it served its purpose and he about as far away from Sirius as he could get without actually leaving the house. It wasn't that he didn't like Sirius, but he needed to keep a distance so that he might not stumble onto the gloves; Arthur still wanted to keep the gloves a secret.

Arthur sat down at the table and spread out his things. The gloves didn't wait, but picked up the quill, dipped it in ink, and poised it over the paper, ready to write.

"I got my newspaper today and—"

_You can't trust those things._

"That's not the point. You know what Azkaban is?"

_Isn't that the prison?_

"Yes. Some Death Eaters broke out of it."

_That's not good. How many of them?_

"Ten. But those were the high security prisoners because they're so high up with Voldermort."

_Again, that's not good._

"They're blaming the breakout on Sirius."

_That guy who is upstairs this very moment? Then why is he here?!_

"People think he's a Death Eater and that he betrayed his best friends."

_They think? So he's really on your side, right?_

"Yes, he's perfectly harmless."

_Do you usually get news like that?_

"No. But that's not all that happened today."

_Oh, no. What else?_

"Bode was killed by a cutting of Devil's Snare. Don't ask who — he worked in the Department of Mysteries and was probably tricked into going in there to get the prophecy. But since the prophecy wasn't about him, he went crazy and was in St. Mungo's. Then he was sent a cutting of Devil's Snare as a birthday present and it killed him."

_That's not a pretty picture. Some people just don't have much luck._

"Ye—" A doorbell rang and the portrait of Mrs. Black started screeching. Arthur groaned and quickly put away his things and ran to get the door. It was Tonks and Remus. As soon as they got in, Remus ran to close the portrait and was helped by Sirius. Then, all four of them went down to the kitchen.

Tonks spoke first. "Did you all see the news?"

"Yes, of course, that was a little hard to miss. It's not everyday that I see my name in the front page." Sirius growled this, as if annoyed.

"No point in getting angry, Sirius," Remus chastened.

"It's not as if they had another choice. They can't just say that Albus was right and he had been hiding something."

"That's right, Arthur, but this isn't good. Now he has more followers and that certainly isn't something we wanted," Tonks said.

"Did you see the article about Bode?" Remus asked.

"Yes, that was a pity," Sirius said.

"That's right, we could have had an ally in him, but that's just the beginning of the killings." Arthur said quietly.

The group continued talking about Order business until it was time for them to leave. Sirius went back up to Buckbeak after all of his friends had left and though about what had happened for a while after everything was over.

**

* * *

**

Author's Notes: How did you like it? Could you read my other stories as well? It would be appreciated. I'll take any reviews I can get. My policy on reviewing: it's better to get a flame than nothing at all. You still don't want to? If you still don't want to review, then I encourage you to write a story. Then you'll understand how much reviews mean to writers and maybe you'll start reviewing other people's stories. Review!


	11. Quibbling Gloves

**Spoilers:** OotP

**Disclaimer:** The characters and the Harry Potter enterprise belongs to JK Rowling and all of her affiliates. No trademark infringement is intended. The article is from OotP and not an invention of my own.

**Author's Notes: **

* * *

As March came, Arthur's life slowed down a little more. Before the ending of January he was back to normal in his job and treated as he had been before Christmas. Over the course of February, his Order work also came back to normal. He was now assigned to guard duty on a regular schedule and he was reassigned to old missions, mainly recruitment.

The winter months passed all too quickly and the weather was warming up once again. Muggle baiting was up, but it wasn't something Arthur complained about. He enjoyed his job and for him, the more work the more interesting it was. Anyway, Muggle baiting was at its peak in the summer and that was still a ways off.

Arthur had had a long day and was strolling back to the lift so he could get to the atrium and get back to Grimmuald Place. There was going to be a meeting later on and he wanted to get a bit of rest beforehand. As he was passing by the Auror department, he bumped into Kingsley.

"Look through this," he whispered, handing him a rolled up magazine. He raised his voice a little. "Doing good, Weasley?"

"Yes, yes, fine." Arthur waved off the question and walked away. It was a little strange to be pretending not to know him, but it was necessary. And anyway, it was fun. (For Arthur anyway, he wasn't so sure about the rest of the people.)

He quickly got down to the Atrium and apparated home without unfurling the magazine to not arouse suspicion; after all, he had no idea what was in the magazine. It could be a harmless article or some important information for the Order. What really puzzled Arthur was why it couldn't wait until the meeting.

Arthur was already at Grimmuald Place so he walked to the living room and sat down, resting his tired limbs. He opened the magazine and saw that it was a copy of the March edition of _The Quibbler_. He rarely read the magazine himself because it was usually just a bunch of rubbish, but there were interesting things in there sometimes.

Arthur was surprised to see a picture of Harry on the cover of _The Quibbler_. Below the picture was the headline:

_**HARRY POTTER SPEAKS OUT AT LAST:**_

_**THE TRUTH ABOUT HE-WHO-MUST-NOT-BE-NAMED**_

_**AND THE NIGHT I SAW HIM RETURN**_

Arthur turned to the article and quickly skimmed it to see what it was about. So Harry had given an interview... But why _The Quibbler_?... Arthur supposed that was because no one else would print it. He wondered briefly who had written it and when he checked, he got a bit of a shock. It was Rita Skeeter. But she had started all of the propaganda against Harry in the first place. Why did she print it? In the end, Arthur decided that it didn't really matter as long as it had been printed.

The article itself was a very smart idea on Harry's part. It assured that people would know what had happened with Voldermort at the end of the previous year, whether they believed it or not. There was at least assurance that people would be interested in the matter because of all the media surrounding it and the gaping holes in the Ministry account.

Arthur re-read the article, this time carefully. He himself had wondered _exactly_ what had happened in the Triwizard Tournament, and this was a first hand, full-proof version. After seeing what had really happened, Arthur was a little bit surprised. He had known that Harry had gone through a lot but this was a lot, even for him. It made him understand Harry's problems a little more.

After seeing what the article was about, Arthur understood why Kingsley had given it to him. This was the kind of thing that was probably going to be a main subject in the meeting and it was important that everyone knew about it even if it wasn't.

There was still time until the meeting, so Arthur decided to relax a little beforehand. He took out the gloves and placed them and a roll of parchment on the table in front of him. He found a quill and some ink and he gave those to the gloves. They immediately perked up upon the quill arriving and did the now ritual action of picking up the quill and getting ready to write with it.

"I got a magazine today and—"

_What did we tell you about those things? They aren't trustworthy!_

"This is reliable. Well — the magazine isn't but the writer — no... erm... well — I know it's true so that's the only important thing."

_Sure. It's always true._

Arthur decided to ignore the gloves' commentary. "Yes, it actually is true. Harry gave an interview on what happened when Voldermort came back."

_Wow. That must have caused a stir._

"I'm not sure yet, but it's bound to have some effect. I'm not all that sure what it's going to be."

_Whether they believe it or not, people are going to want to read and word is going to get around. But whether it helps you cause, which it probably will, or deters it, it's important to have that kind of article out._

"That's for sure. I'm not really postsive how Harry got such a good idea..."

_Didn't you say one of his friends was really smart?_

"Hermione? Come to think of it, she probably did give him the idea..."

_Anything else happen that was even remotely interesting?_

"No. I just talked to you a few days ago, nothing interesting happens that quickly. The only real reason I bother was because these are big news."

_Yes, well, we don't want to exert ourselves so... bye._ The glove dropped the quill and then the two of them jumped into their respective pockets.

Arthur put away his things and laid down on the couch. He was actually looking forward to talking about the article at the Order meeting and learning more about it. It was sure to be an interesting and informative meeting. He continued reading some more interesting, yet unimportant articles until it was time for the meeting.

* * *

**Author's Notes: **How did you like it? Could you read my other stories as well? It would be appreciated. I'll take any reviews I can get. My policy on reviewing: it's better to get a flame than nothing at all. You still don't want to? If you still don't want to review, then I encourage you to write a story. Then you'll understand how much reviews mean to writers and maybe you'll start reviewing other people's stories. Review! 


	12. Pair o' Gloves

**Spoilers:** OotP

**Disclaimer:** The characters and the Harry Potter enterprise belongs to JK Rowling and all of her affiliates. No trademark infringement is intended.

**Author's Notes:** I know I haven't been around for a while, but that's because I didn't have access to the internet. Now I'm trying to get my stories up before the new book comes out. This is finished through OotP, and will update very quickly; there are oly three chapters left. I will probably keep writing this as a background to HBP, but I'll have more info on that soon. Thanks to my two reviewers as of ch. 9: **sappjody**: I have a few more stories up if you're interested but all one shots. **Sirius Black:** That's a good enough review for me: you're being too nice.

* * *

It was halfway through June and the Weasley twins were happy: very happy. They just recently dropped out of Hogwarts and were ready to be on their own. Their home was a flat above their joke shop, but this morning, they were in Grimmuald Place.

The previous day, they had come here because it was the Headquarters of the Order of the Phoenix. By the suggestion of Dumbledore, through Fawkes, they had been initiated into the Order. Their mother had been reluctant to let them join, but in the end, decided it was better than that "horrible store."

Luckily for the twins, they could constantly keep the store open because the Order had agreed that they would be assigned nothing that would take them away from their store. Their main job would be to research and find things that could be useful for their side: a bit of a change from their usual pranking tools.

So today, they would go back to their busy work as Order inductees. The shop did not have so many customers as it was still the school year, but people who came still loved their shop and bought a lot. The main profit was coming from owl orders, mainly from Hogwarts students, who couldn't get to the store. In short, business was doing well, though they had only been open a few days.

They were ready to apparate away and open their shop when something caught their eye. On a table was a piece of parchment, ink, a luxury quill, and a pair of leather gloves. The twins, curious as they were, took a few moments to examine the items: George was fingering the quill, and Fred was examining the gloves.

George unscrewed the ink and was going to try writing with the quill to test it. But both twins got a surprise when one of the gloves jumped out of Fred's hands and slapped George. George was standing were still and his mouth was open in shock. The quill fell, drifting down to the table. Fred dropped the other glove and stepped away slowly. They were both expecting someone invisible to be the culprit of this nasty trip.

The invisible person never came but the gloves started writing furiously.

_Just what do you think you're doing? Waltzing around like you can do whatever you want and stealing?_

The twins were now doing very accurate impression of fish. "Who's doing this?" one of them sputtered out.

_Well, we are, of course. It's amazing what gloves can do with a simple spell._

George finally found his voice. "So you gloves can write?"

_That and a variety of other things: yes. Basically anything that hands can do, we can do. Plus more, since we're made of leather and are more flexible than bone._

"Wicked!" both shouted. "Look, we're in a hurry; do you mind if we take you along to our shop? You can tell us more in our free time," Fred asked quickly.

_Why not?_

The next thing anyone knew was they were in the back of Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes and the twins were running around, opening up the shop as quickly as they possibly could.

* * *

**Author's Notes:** How did you like it? Could you read my other stories as well? It would be appreciated. I'll take any reviews I can get. My policy on reviewing: it's better to get a flame than nothing at all. You still don't want to? If you still don't want to review, then I encourage you to write a story. Then you'll understand how much reviews mean to writers and maybe you'll start reviewing other people's stories. Review!


	13. Teaching Old Gloves New Tricks

**Spoilers:** OotP

**Disclaimer:** The characters and the Harry Potter enterprise belongs to JK Rowling and all of her affiliates. No trademark infringement is intended.

**Author's Notes:**I'm just amazed that so _many_ people are reading this. Five reviews is a huge number for a 12 chapter fic. You know, I'd just like to say that it's a good that I finished this before I started posting, otherwise I would have probably left it a long time ago. If you really think it's that bad, just _tell_ me.I won't get insulted. Two more chapters after this. Pranksters at work here, in case you care.

* * *

The twins opened their store and practically ran back to the gloves, which were standing around idly and waiting for them to come back. The twins weren't worried about costumers; their doorbell was quite distinct. They found a spare piece of parchment, a quill and ink and practically shoved it up to the gloves.

The gloves sighed, as much as gloves could, and took the quill, ready to write.

"So, what spell are you under?"

Motus Manicae. _It gives us the power of motion and the personality of the caster. The caster of our spell has died, and n a way, he lives on in us. The counter-spell is _Durare_ and after this spell is cast, any re-castings give a new life and do not bring back the lost one. Recasting done by anyone done while the original spell is still intact will only strengthen it._

"So… who owns you?"

_That depends — who are you?_

"I'm Fred—"

"I'm George—"

"And together — we're the Weasley twins!"

_Oh — Arthur told us about you two…_

"He cast the spell?" one asked.

_Didn't we already tell you that my caster is dead?_

One of the twins (George?) read back. "No…"

_So we're telling you now. Arthur only found us and he will be looking for us._

"Oh, keep your — er… buttons on." Fred finished lamely. A duck's quacking came from the front of the store and the twins rushed out to help their customer.

In a few minutes, the twins were back, this time with a pair of old gloves. The gloves watched with a rare interesting while the twins cast a series of spells on them. First was a spell to renew them, then they used a bit of a potion to change the material to (imitation) silk. Then they made the size adjustable and charmed it to change colors at different intervals. Then they cast the _Motus_ spell and duplicated the gloves (by three) by dipping them into a cauldron hidden in a closet.

The twins noticed the gloves and one informed them, "The potion only works on fabrics, otherwise our work would be much easier, but it does help where it can. The other potion was our invention as well. We have to be good in Charms, Transfiguration and Potions to be good at this, but a lot of it is experimental stuff."

The other twin prodded his copy. "Fred, if you'd care to notice…" George gestured around at the six gloves running around and causing trouble. Fred gasped and froze the gloves.

The twins spent the rest of the day being watched by the gloves. They steadily made more and more gloves in between customers. The place was very colorful and full of packages by the time they were done. There were gloves of every color, even flashing neon and interchanging polka dots and moving (bright) plaid. There was something for everyone and it was all nicely packaged.

They added a place in the shop for the gloves. They even had a little display of ten gloves doing all sorts of tricks. They had a sign up front with a glove beckoning people inside. That day, they explained and demonstrated the new product numerous times, but it was worth it. The new Wheeze was an instant sensation. Everyone wanted a pair of these fun gloves.

It really ended up being a good day for the Weasley twins. The only thing they regretted was not having thought of it sooner.

* * *

**Author's Notes:** How did you like it? Could you read my other stories as well? It would be appreciated. I'll take any reviews I can get. My policy on reviewing: it's better to get a flame than nothing at all. You still don't want to? If you still don't want to review, then I encourage you to write a story. Then you'll understand how much reviews mean to writers and maybe you'll start reviewing other people's stories. Review!


	14. Glove Adventure

**Spoilers:** OotP

**Disclaimer:** The characters and the Harry Potter enterprise belongs to JK Rowling and all of her affiliates. No trademark infringement is intended.

**Author's Notes:**Geez, I feel so special. Such a great response in reviews. do i hav 2 ty pe lik thjis too get you're atentionn ? R/r!11 Honestly. If you don't like it, just tell me. At least take a look at my other stories, you may find something you like there. Horrid people. I'm rather fond of this chapter. It has the twins, sneaking around and an appearance by Tonks, with a slight explanation for her clmsiness.

* * *

The week passed by easily for the twins. Their business was going wonderfully and the gloves were selling out right before their eyes. The only problem were the original gloves. However interested in all their spells they were, they were impatient to get back to their owner. They were very realistic and knew that Arthur was sure to be looking for them. That was perhaps what got the twins to agree to taking them back, or maybe just their constant nagging. Either way, the gloves were going back to their owners.

The return of the gloves was carefully planned out. They would go to Grimmuald Place when they thought that nobody would be there and place the gloves in a place where they could be easily overlooked and where they could get themselves. That place was still undecided, but the planned on finding it upon arrival.

They expected the house to be empty at night that day because so many people had missions at those types of times. They closed shop at nine, as usual, and spent some time planning their adventure before actually setting out. The night-time excursion was nothing new to them, and they were positively delighted at this chance to sneak around once again. That was the only reason they regretted being shop bound against any real mission in the Order.

At eleven, they decided that the house should be empty enough, and that Sirius and Kreacher would be asleep at that point. They apparated to the basement kitchen, wincing at the noise they made. They were happy to note, however, that nobody had seemed to hear them and they had not been caught.

They quietly made their way up through the dark house looking for a good place to leave the gloves. They were seriously starting to consider just leaving them under a couch and forgetting the whole affair when they heard a rustling from upstairs. They jumped a foot into their air and hid in a nearby closet, leaving a little crack to be able to see what was going on.

Soft footsteps met their ears and they watched as a young woman went down the steps. She was short, pale, had short black hair and very green eyes. The twins had never seen this woman before, but supposed she was just a new member of the Order they had not seen before. She went briefly into the kitchen where they couldn't see her and came out carrying a glass of water. Curious, they followed her up to her room, staying very quiet to make sure that she wouldn't notice them.

As they followed her, they remembered that Tonks was supposed to be staying there that week in the room next to Sirius. They consequently got a surprise when this mysterious stranger entered the room they had thought to be Tonks's.

They quickly went down the stairs and tried not to comment on their stupidity. Tonks was a metamorphmagus and she could have easily changed her looks. They contributed the lack of clumsiness to her height. She had probably started out short, but altered her height to be a bit to be taller, and was unused to being tall. That or maybe she could never make her feet proportional to her height.

They decided to put the gloves in the desk that had previously housed the bogart. It would be a good excuse to why they had been missing and it was an easy place to overlook.

After that adventure, the two went down to the basement kitchen to apparate safely to their flat. They slept soundly that night, but couldn't help but wonder what would happen to the gloves.

* * *

**Author's Notes:** How did you like it? Could you read my other stories as well? It would be appreciated. I'll take any reviews I can get. My policy on reviewing: it's better to get a flame than nothing at all. You still don't want to? If you still don't want to review, then I encourage you to write a story. Then you'll understand how much reviews mean to writers and maybe you'll start reviewing other people's stories. Review!


	15. New Glove Era

**Spoilers:** OotP

**Disclaimer:** The characters and the Harry Potter enterprise belongs to JK Rowling and all of her affiliates. No trademark infringement is intended.

**Author's Notes:** Glad to see I'm so loved. 5 reviews for 14 chapters. (15 chapters probably, as I really don't expect more reviews right now.) This is the last chapter as background to OotP, a bit boring though. I will be writting a background to HBP as well, but I don't know yet if it will be together with this, it may be a different story, if I feel inspired.

* * *

The gloves spent approximately a week in a drawer of the desk. They did as much exploring as the small space allowed them to. It seemed that nobody ever used this desk, or at least not in the time they spent there. It was a relief to them that nobody ever bothered them, but were starting to wonder when they would be found by Arthur. 

Arthur was searching desperately for his quill. It was his best one and he loved writing with it. He swept the house many times, but could not find it. He also vaguely registered the gloves being missing, although this did not bother him. The gloves were independent enough to wander around the house without getting into much trouble. Plus, he had been busy the last few weeks with Order work, so he could not have used the gloves even if he had wanted to.

In another one of his "house sweeps" as he called them, Arthur was standing in the middle of the room, thinking if there could be a place that he had missed. As if on cue, he noticed the desk. The previous year, it had been unused for fear of a bogart inside; now, nobody really had a use for it. But maybe, just maybe, he had put the quill away there so that nobody would take it. It was a bit of a stretch, but there was no other place he could look. If it wasn't there he would just give up looking for the quill anymore.

When he opened the top drawer, he got two surprises. There was the quill, still looking regal, and the gloves. He was about to take the quill, but the gloves stopped him. They swatted him away; he had drawn back because of this gesture. The gloves made a pose, reminding Arthur vaguely of someone putting their hands on their hips. The idea was very amusing, but the situation was pretty serious. They jumped out of the drawer onto the newly restored desk top, taking the quill as well as a piece of parchment and ink out of the drawer.

Arthur was substantially surprised, but after nearly a year of owning the gloves, he was used to their antics. He closed the drawer after them, and after glancing around to make sure nobody was coming, turned his attention to the gloves. They had already written on the paper, in angry disjoined letters.

_Well, finally, we got out of there. Two weeks. Two weeks!_

"Well… I was busy… I didn't know what happened with you, but I presumed you were all right…"

_Yet you were searching for a QUILL so desperately!_

"That quill means a lot to me…"

_So we don't?_

"Of course you do! But you can take care of yourselves!" The gloves seemed to have no answer to that, so Arthur quickly changed the subject. "How did you get in there?"

_How do you think? "Oh no, they're coming; they're coming; you gotta hide!" Then you shove us and the stupid quill in here and forget for two weeks!_

This wasn't the truth, of course, but the gloves did not want to betray the likeable twins. The anger from not being found for a week was enough to fuel them. The quill had already been there when they had been hid; so they just made up that part to make t fit together and to avoid awkward questions. The story seemed true and Arthur was convinced that he had done that. That was very useful for the gloves.

"I'm sorry. You forgive me?"

_Yea… just don't forget us again._

"Done!" Arthur exclaimed happily.

That day, he made utilized the empty desk. His work, both Ministry and Order, was organized into the drawers. Spare parchment, ink, his quills and the gloves were also put into a drawer, this time a bit bigger. It could be used for both work and the glove conversations.

He finished that day with a few words to gloves, reassuring them that he won't forget them, talk to them more regularly, and not stuff them into a drawer or anything of the sort ever again. The gloves were happy with this promise, and happily settled into their new "home." That was the most permanent arrangement during the year they had been there, and they hoped to keep it.

Arthur likewise finished the month off on a good note. He had the quill back and was confident he wouldn't loose it again; he had the gloves back and was on their good side, and he had become a little more organized that day. Molly would be proud; of course, not about the gloves, as he would try to make sure she didn't find out for another year.

Soon Ron would come back for the summer and the house would be full again. Tonks and the other Order members hurt were healthy again; Tonks had just come back a week ago. They were very busy, as now the wizarding world would truly be at war, but they would get through it.

The kids were growing older, but they had all made Arthur proud. It would be a miracle if they all survived, but some sacrifices had to be made. Sirius had been the first, or the second depending on your point of view, and the Order was steadily growing stroner and gaining support.

Soon Harry and Hermione would come and Ron's OWL's will be decided, but that will be the beginning of a new year, and the true beginning of the war. But whatever happened, Arthur knew one thing, the gloves will help him get through it.

* * *

**Author's Notes:** How did you like it? Could you read my other stories as well? It would be appreciated. I'll take any reviews I can get. My policy on reviewing: it's better to get a flame than nothing at all. You still don't want to? If you still don't want to review, then I encourage you to write a story. Then you'll understand how much reviews mean to writers and maybe you'll start reviewing other people's stories. Review! 


End file.
